Others have answered or commented on the precise question. Just a few thoughts
about the way that the Act affects our traditional thinking...
Lucinda noted that "[students] are simply told that they cannot have a copy and
that it is University policy not to return or provide copies of assessed
application forms." The Act will undoubtedly stop us from simply telling people
"no", and I guess that is no bad thing.
Similarly, "The assessed forms are of a confidential nature and ... in some
cases these comments are quite blunt and might upset a student if seen by
him/her." Again, either people should modify style, OR students will have to be
upset. It seems to me that the general issue here is: who is deciding
(arbitrarily) that the material is confidential? If we all decided to exclude
stuff because we deem it confidential, no one would ever get to see
anything. And that would include ourselves as private individuals when
challenging some outside company. We cannot defend secrecy on the grounds that
"it is University policy ... (made clear to students)."
It would be even worse if we start devising obscure (non-)filing systems in
order to beat the provisions or interpretations of the Act!
I myself have been brought up on a relatively "closed" system, and am having to
go through some mental/moral gymnastics on this - Lucinda's problem is a very
good example of how we shall all have to re-examine and justify what we do.
Trevor Field.
----------------------
Dr Trevor Field
Senior Assistant Secretary
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3FX
Tel: [+44] (0)1224 272077
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